1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for performing oilfield operations for an oilfield having geological structures and reservoirs therein. More particularly, the invention relates to techniques for collaborating between multiple users to manage such oilfield operations.
2. Background of the Related Art
Oilfield operations involve various sub-surface activities used to locate and gather valuable hydrocarbons. Various tools, such as seismic tools, are often used to locate the hydrocarbons. One or more wellsites may be positioned along an oilfield to locate and gather the hydrocarbons from subterranean reservoirs of an oilfield. The wellsites are provided with tools capable of advancing into the ground and removing hydrocarbons from the subterranean reservoirs. Production facilities are positioned at surface locations to collect the hydrocarbons from the wellsites. Fluid is drawn from the subterranean reservoirs and passed to the production facilities via transport mechanisms, such as tubing. Various equipment is positioned about the oilfield to monitor and manipulate the flow of hydrocarbons from the reservoirs.
During oilfield operations, it is often desirable to monitor various oilfield parameters, such as fluid flow rates, composition, and the like. Sensors may be positioned about the oilfield to collect data relating to the wellsite and the processing facility, among others. For example, sensors in the wellbore may monitor fluid composition, sensors located along the flow path may monitor flow rates and sensors at the processing facility may monitor fluids collected. The monitored data is often used to make real-time decisions at the oilfield. Data collected by these sensors may be further analyzed and processed.
The processed data may be used to determine conditions at the wellsites and/or other portions of the oilfield, and make decisions concerning these activities. Operating parameters, such as wellsite setup, drilling trajectories, flow rates, wellbore pressures, production rates and other parameters, may be adjusted based on the received information. In some cases, known patterns of behavior of various oilfield configurations, geological factors, operating conditions or other parameters may be collected over time to predict future oilfield activities.
Oilfield data is often used to monitor and/or perform various oilfield operations. There are numerous factors that may be considered in operating an oilfield. Thus, the analysis of large quantities of a wide variety of data and management of the oilfield are often complex. Workflows have been developed for the handling and processing such data, as well as documents, tasks, and the like. These workflows are commonly used by oilfield services companies to capture, for example, recovery processes, refining processes, quality control processes, approval process, and the like. For a given process, a workflow defines, among other things, which tasks need to be performed, when the tasks are to be performed, who is to perform the tasks, in what order are they to be performed, how information flows to support the tasks, how the tasks are tracked, and so forth. Historically, workflows were prepared manually using, for example, Microsoft PowerPoint™ and similar presentation tools. These workflows, however, were little more than illustrative guides insofar as each work step contained in the workflow had to be initiated manually by appropriate personnel. The complex process of gathering and interpreting the data required to characterize, model, and design a production regimen for an oilfield requires the execution of several different applications.
More recently, computer-based workflow editors have been developed that allow users to construct a workflow via a graphical user interface and to subsequently execute the workflow. The user simply runs the workflow and each work step contained in the workflow, including the applications associated with, is performed automatically. In these workflow editors, lines were used to represent execution flow, but not data flow, due to the limitations of existing workflow editors. Thus, a user had to choose either an execution flow or a data flow, whichever was most useful for his/her particular application. Unfortunately, such a solution does not readily accommodate certain situations where, for example, a work step is executed multiple times, as in an execution loop, because each work step needs an input from another, specific work step. This led to the imposition of certain rules that were cumbersome to carry out, for example, using lines to represent only execution flow, then using data labels to represent data flow.
In addition, data relating to an oilfield often need to be generated and/or reviewed by users at various locations. Typically, such users perform limited functions and have limited access to specific subsets of data. Furthermore, the users are often unable to communicate with other users, or consider data from other sources.
Thus, despite advances in oilfield and workflow technology, there remains a need to provide techniques for enhancing the performance of oilfield operations. It is desirable that techniques be provided for permitting multiple users to collaborate on workflows, data and oilfield operations. It is further desirable that such users be capable of one or more of the following, among others: providing more effective methods and systems for developing workflows, linking users to enable collaboration therebetween, and providing a workflow editor with a graphical user interface that uses lines to represent both execution flow and data flow.